Britain After the Games

Historian David Starkey says the country's inclusive mood will fade once the 'Disney theme park' of Olympic London goes away.

By

Nabeelah Jaffer

Sept. 6, 2012 3:39 p.m. ET

Derringstone, England

"It seemed to me that what the Olympics did was to turn Britain—and its history, and its capital, and its people—into a Disney theme park," historian David Starkey tells me in his Kentish countryside garden, a week after the closing ceremony. With "all the volunteers wearing their funny uniforms, their big hats," the "great working, thriving, noble city of London" has turned into...